


Rescuing a Perfectly Capable Prince

by NoOneFrUkingCares



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Fae & Fairies, How Do I Tag, M/M, Mages, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Princes & Princesses, Prophecy, Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, Swords, hopefully no angst, teen only because there's mild cursing, they are trying to practice nonviolence, well just princes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:13:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26364001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoOneFrUkingCares/pseuds/NoOneFrUkingCares
Summary: Zitao thought that he was done with the adventurous part of his life, that the days of traveling and excitement with Jongin were over with the opening of their school. But then a mage shows up asking for help, saying that they're prophesied to rescue the missing prince of Zephair, who had long ago been taken and held captive by a dragon.And well, what's one more adventure?
Relationships: Huang Zi Tao | Z.Tao & Kim Jongin | Kai, Huang Zi Tao | Z.Tao/Oh Sehun
Kudos: 3
Collections: EXOventure Round 1 2020





	1. Press X to (doubt) make bad decision

**Author's Note:**

> Written for EXOventure fest, prompt M180.
> 
> So this turned out to be a doozy, and is still a doozy, and might actually become the first exo fic I've ever published that I'm still writing while uploading, which is gonna be an experience. 
> 
> Thank you feverishly to the mods for letting me participate, and sorry for all the trouble I've caused. Another thank you to the prompter for such a fun idea, and to my [beta](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kei_song) for helping me keep this entire thing from just going belly-up with plot holes.

The best time to rest is with the warmth of the sun covering your eyes, gentle breeze dancing across your skin, letting heat and power sink into your skin and massage away troubles and cold, rocking you to the warmest doze. At least that’s what Zitao thinks, and honestly who needs to sleep at night when they could nap surrounded by sweet and soft blossoms in the best sunlight of the day?

And the best of all? Zitao can do this for as long as he wants. 

He’s done it all. He’s sacrificed so much but the rewards really are worth it. Nothing can take this away from him.

“Taozi?” Jongin’s voice comes from somewhere above him, and seconds later, the warm sun on Zitao gets blocked out by a shadow. 

“Hmm?” Zitao slowly opens one eye to see his best friend leaning over him, a slightly more serious than usual look on his face. Oh, that’s not good. “Yes, Nini?” 

“There’s someone here that wants to see you.” Jongin nods slightly towards the direction of the main building, where the visitor is no doubt quarantined in his office.

“Did he say anything about why he’s here?” Zitao asks, drawing out each syllable to be able to spend more time in the warm embrace of the grass and sun.

“Nope. He refuses to say anything until you get there. Now stop lazing around and get up.” Jongin smiles, holding out a hand as if trying to drag Zitao up in this impossible position.

Zitao has the distinct feeling that this man is going to ruin the quiet life Zitao had finally acquired for himself. 

He sighs, sitting up and brushing some dirt off his back, Jongin stepping aside to avoid getting hit in the head. “Let’s go see what he wants.”

~~~

Sure enough, there’s a man sitting stiffly on the visitor’s couch in Zitao’s office, eyes slightly wandering around. He wears all black, which Zitao gets, it’s a fashion choice, but also holds himself up rigidly, as if not wanting to put too much of his weight onto the seat. 

He turns towards them at the sound of the door, and smiles at Zitao when they approach, but he can tell that the smile is completely fake, barely a hint of warmth in his eyes. “General Huang.”

Interesting. Very little people would refer to him as a general, and even less will come find him. 

“I’m not a general. Jongin said that you had something you wanted to talk to me about?” Zitao cuts through the niceties and directly to the words unsaid in air. The man seems a little impatient, though he also seems to try his best to hide it. There’s just something in the way his eyes seem to just dart around, completely on guard. It doesn’t help that good-looking people usually all happen to give off an air of aloofness, a cold “stay away” that this man is completely projecting right now.

“I want your help with something.” The man asks, getting up from his seat to be at a more even level with Zitao. But he’s still slightly short, resulting in Zitao having to look down at him, though there’s something in his posture that makes him feel like they are distinctly on the same level. 

“We don’t act as mercenaries anymore.” Jongin inserts himself into the conversation, standing by Zitao’s right side with his arms crossed. There had once been a time when they basically had to take whatever little job they could, even those from far below their station, just for a little bit of money. Zitao’s pretty happy to say that that’s pretty far behind them now.

“I’m not here to hire you as a mercenary. More like a bodyguard, actually.” The man gives a laugh with very little humour in it, and it doesn’t even take having to look at Jongin for Zitao to know what he’s also thinking. 

“We’re not just pay to hire fighters. If you want someone else to do whatever you want, then go ask someone else. Aren’t there whole guilds of people who can do what you want us to do?” Zitao holds his head a bit higher, frowning down at the man. 

Sure, Zitao and Jongin consistently rank as either number one or two on the unofficial ranking of most powerful martial artists of Fighters Weekly, and usually both in the top 10 of most accomplished fighters in the world, but that’s not so people can just fall over and subject them to little tasks that their next door knight in training could take care of. And from the way the conversation is going, it seems a bit too like this random man is here to do exactly that.

“No, not like that.” He isn’t doing the best at pleading his case, and he finally drops the fake smile, now seeming too exhausted. “Alright, let me start over.”

He reaches into an inner pocket and pulls out two blank cards, handing one to Zitao and Jongin. As soon as Zitao gets a firm grip on it, black words slowly reveal themselves, like someone was sliding off a cover in slow motion. 

_Suho, High Mage_

“I’m Junmyeon, and I need help with a prophecy.” Junmyeon pleas, looking completely serious. 

“A prophecy?” Zitao flips the card over, watching as the words on the card slowly fade back to white, revealing themselves only when he flips the card once more. Junmyeon has some nice tricks.

“Yeah. You know the prince of Zephair?” Junmyeon starts, and immediately, Zitao has an idea of how this proposal would end. 

If someone had to tell a brief history of the kingdom of Zephair, they would almost always start with the fact that the kingdom started as a little kingdom in the mountains, or perhaps maybe even the clouds, like they were nothing but wind spirits that turned human. But that was then, and what is sure is that since then, the little kingdom completely revolutionised the trade of the world, being situated in a mountain range that has to be crossed to move goods, and also having brilliantly invented devices that can carry supplies in the skies. It did a bunch of peaceful integrations, and less than peaceful integrations, but the matter is that it is currently the largest nation in the world, and relatively happy and peaceful, at least until the nasty affair with their prince.

It sounds almost like a fairy tale, what happened with the prince, and there are certainly people who are trying their best to make it into a proper fairy tale. The rumours go that the king did something, and seeing as the kingdom is so large, it could’ve honestly been anything, which managed to piss off a dragon. The dragon, seeking revenge, retaliated by kidnapping the younger prince, beloved Prince Sehun, basically to tell the king a big fuck you and also say that there’s nothing anyone can do to stop him. He then proceeded to trap the prince in a tower in a different mountain range more to the west, daring anyone who was brave enough to try and save him. 

The kingdom of Zephair sent their best fighters, posted an impossibly high bounty, and people went to try and rescue the prince. But since it’s a literal fucking dragon that they have to go up against, it was basically tantamount to sending thousands and thousands of people to their deaths, and years after getting kidnapped, the prince is still a captive. 

“No, absolutely not.”

“Go on.” Jongin and Zitao look at each other, judging their very opposite responses.

“Nini, he came all this way, at least hear him out.” Zitao coaxes, very intrigued in what Junmyeon has to say.

“It’s a suicide mission, and I’m not going to ruin my life to go after a prince who I have no allegiance to, Taozi.” Jongin says firmly, arms crossed.

“He hasn’t even said anything yet.” Zitao huffs, turning back to Junmyeon. “Um, Mage Junmyeon, can you please say what you were going to say?”

Junmyeon gives Zitao and Jongin an entirely insincere smile, which means that Jongin’s fears probably aren’t irrational. “Well, it’s basically what you think. I got a prophecy a few days ago that said that in order to get to Prince Sehun, I need to journey there with the top martial artist.” 

Jongin seems on the verge of declining for both of them, but Junmyeon points at the blank cards and black ink slides over them again. “I know that you think that it’s suicide, but I’m not unprepared or stupid. I have a general map of the area, including where the prince is being kept, and we don’t need to kill the dragon. We just need to get Se- the prince out, so it’s less risky than trying to fight him.”

Sure enough, the lines on the white card form a sort of map, long straight strokes representing a large castle and laying out a rough terrain of the area.

“You don’t plan on killing the dragon?” Zitao asks, suspicious. 

“No. Most people die before they even get to the base of the mountain because they’re just out and about shouting and boasting, needlessly drawing the dragon’s attention. We don’t need to kill the dragon, and I doubt anyone can do so anyways, so we can just get the prince and leave.” Junmyeon explains, red dots outlining a secret route around the back of the castle, away from the lines marking out “Dragon's cave.”

“And then the dragon discovers that the prince is gone and either kills us or steals the prince back after we return him to his castle, right?” Jongin brings up a good point. 

“The dragon won’t recapture him after he’s rescued. I’m sure of it.” Something shifts in Junmyeon’s eyes, and for the first time, Zitao finally sees why Jongin keeps thinking that it’s a suicide mission. But the moment passes, and then he’s more resolved than ever to go through with it. Prophecies don’t lie, so the mission is going to go right.

“Payment?” 

“The whole reward for the prince is yours. I’ll also pay a few million to you right now.” Junmyeon offers, snapping his fingers. Two bags completely filled with cash drop onto the floor next to Zitao, and he makes his choice in a flash.

“I’ll go with you.” Zitao decides, and Jongin hisses next to him.

“Taozi! Excuse us for a second.” Jongin pulls him off to the side, and they move so fast that Zitao isn’t even fully aware of opening the door before they stand outside of his office, trapping the mage in there alone.

“Are you insane?” Jongin shouts quietly, every single muscle of his body seeming to suggest that he thinks Zitao has finally gone over the deep end. “We run a school, and you want to get yourself killed doing something that no one has been able to do?”

“He’s a High Mage, Nini.” Zitao points out. “If anyone can get past a dragon, it’ll be him. Besides, he has a prophecy, and prophecies don’t go wrong.”

“Yes they do.” Jongin says resolutely, and Zitao sighs, thinking about the one that spun their life into the tailspin that it is today. 

“No they don’t. Everything that a prophecy says will happen, happens.” Zitao takes Jongin’s hands, needing the comfort and familiarity of the touch to anchor them both down to earth. “I know that you don’t have any lost love for Zephair, but it’ll be exciting! And I trust that we’ll both get out of this safe and alive.”

“You haven’t even heard the whole prophecy yet.” Jongin sighs, probably also having already made his mind up.

“Then we’ll get him to tell us the whole prophecy, alright?” Zitao smiles, and Jongin echoes the smile more hesitantly.

“You’re insane.” Jongin shakes his head, the smile a bit more genuine as he reaches for the door.

“You love me for it.” Zitao throws back.

“I reserve the right to call you a crazy asshole at any time during this.” 

“Of course.” Zitao accepts, pulling open the door. 

Junmyeon turns when they come back in, a patient look etched into his face. Jongin has also replaced the cool untouched look, watching Junmyeon intensely as they move back to their position near him.

“You mentioned a prophecy.” Jongin starts, look practically steely. Junmyeon nods. “What does it say exactly?”

“I can’t tell you without jeopardising the whole trip.” Junmyeon says instantly, and Zitao exchanges a look with Jongin. If that ain’t the most suspicious line ever.

“Are you sure?” Zitao asks, stalking towards him. Junmyeon gives him a guarded look as Zitao gently brushes some dust off his arm, and Jongin gently lays a finger against his hair.

“I’m really sorry but I can’t give away the exact words of the prophecy without causing a problem. But I do know that none of us dies.” Junmyeon reassures, and Zitao looks across Junmyeon’s head to Jongin. He removes his hand and nods once, indicating that Junmyeon is actually telling the truth. Well, the truth amulet Jongin wears doesn’t lie, so Zitao smiles.

“We’ll go with you.” Zitao announces, knowing that Jongin won’t let him go alone. Ah, his best friend is so nicely predictable.

“Unless you have any issues with both of us?” Jongin asks, a slightly threatening edge creeping out in his tone.

“Oh no, of course not.” What looks like a flash of relief crosses Junmyeon’s face, and his face relaxes into a more natural expression. “Thank you both for accepting. It should be pretty straightforward. We go straight to the dragon’s caves in Wuin by crossing through Zephair, and then we go straight back to Zephair to drop off the prince.” 

“We can’t go through Zephair.” Zitao states firmly, sneaking a glance at Jongin. Sure, it happened years ago, but apparently when it comes to Jongin authorities have a really long memory. “We need to plan a different route.”

“Actually, why can’t you just teleport us there, High Mage?” Jongin sneers.

“I’m an elemental mage, so I’m more capable with magic relating to my element. “I can only teleport us short distances, and I’ll have to know exactly where I’m teleporting to, and exactly how we’ll teleport into that space. Besides, there’s only a handful of beings or wizards who can teleport any further than the distance they can see, and they need to submit requests and reports to their conclave or the government, which defeats our purpose of secrecy.” He looks intensely at Jongin, who just huffs and turns towards Zitao.

“How about we go up through Sulanko?” Zitao pulls out his large regional map, laying it down on top of his desk and brushing some spare paperwork aside. He traces a large arc over the top and down the left side with his finger, completely avoiding the large nation in the centre.

“I can’t go through Sulanko.” Junmyeon shakes his head, walking over to trace a lower arc, going down from the little yellow sticker Zitao had stuck on to mark home a few years ago, following Dongle River to the ocean. But he doesn’t go all the way to the ocean, pulling his finger off the blue at the dot that is Gwangcheon, then draws a slowly curving downwards line to the left, cutting almost dangerously close to the Elf nations just south of the Zephair border. “Does this work?”

“This is still going through Zephair.” Jongin frowns, watching the way Junmyeon’s finger hovers at the very edge of the thick line constituting the border. 

“It’s either go on the outskirts of Zephair or travel through every single small kingdom stuck between the two elven forests more south.” Junmyeon points out, and yeah, unfortunately there’s a point to be made there. But stuck between the land that elves have claimed and traversing through lightly feuding countries still sounds like a better option than going through Zephair even a little.

“Then we can travel through every single little country between the ocean and the mountains. There’s no time limit on the prophecy, is there?” Zitao insists, jabbing nowhere particular on the map.

“No, but it’s tedious. And isn’t there a new war that breaks out every other month?” Junmyeon argues back, not much of a bite to his arguments. It’s not like he really has a choice if Zitao and Jongin really insist, because in the end, he came to them for help.

Jongin lays a gentle hand on Zitao’s arm, nodding his head almost impeccably to indicate that it’ll be fine, that nothing will happen if they just go through Zephair. “We can just go through Zephair. Isn’t the security on the border looser than it would be closer to the capital?”

“Yeah. You can get away with almost anything by the border, as long as you don’t accidentally trespass on elf land.” Junmyeon looks between the two of them, seemingly figuring something out. “If you’re really worried about the authorities, they have little to no sway by the border, and if it really comes down to it, I can force them to mind their own business.” 

Zitao looks at Jongin, searching for confirmation. No amount of money is worth Jongin getting into trouble, even if they have to travel through war zones. But in the end, he’ll defer to Jongin.

“Fine. When do you want us to leave?” Jongin asks.

Junmyeon’s smile finally looks a bit unstable, and Zitao knows exactly what Jongin thinks, eyes boring into the side of his head. “As soon as possible.”


	2. Current vibe: 1st day of school

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter just has 1st day of school vibes where people are all like settling in and getting to know each other and totally isn't because I'm starting school and am scared haha not at all.

Hooves beat against the ground too fast, and Zitao stares out the window of their carriage, wondering if he longs to feel the wind streaking through his hair as he presses down close to a galloping horse, or if he just wants to get out of the awkwardness already settling between Jongin and Junmyeon. It’s been a few hours since they’ve left the school to go somewhere far, and from the way Jongin keeps a hand far too close to the sword strapped on his back, he’s definitely feeling stressed.

“Alright. I can’t breathe with the tension in the air, and I am absolutely not dealing with this for the weeks that we are traveling.” Zitao snaps, Jongin and Junmyeon both turning to him with slight surprise. “We didn’t introduce ourselves yet, right?”

“I know who you are.” Junmyeon replies, looking slightly offended.

“You came in calling me General Huang. No you don’t.” Zitao catches the curve of a smile on Jongin’s lips and feels slightly less choked. “I’m Huang Zitao. You can call me Tao.” 

He kicks Jongin’s shin slightly, and receives a glare in return as Jongin rubs his leg. There was barely any power in that kick, drama queen. 

“I’m Kim Jongin.” Jongin seems to be trying to discourage conversation as best as he can, but Zitao refuses to sit in awkward silence. And even if Junmyeon won’t engage in conversation, Zitao can carry an entire conversation alone if he has to.

“Nice to meet you both.” Junmyeon smiles, and Zitao smiles back. Jongin pouts instead, but honestly that’s probably the best he can hope for while he’s still sulking. “So, you two run a school?”

“Yeah. EXO Academy.” Jongin softens up slightly, his hand untensing so it no longer looks like he wants to pull out his sword any second. “It’s Taozi’s baby.”

“Nini treats it like the kids are all his babies.” Zitao scoffs, twisting his legs away from the payback kick. 

“Ah, you’re good with kids?” Junmyeon asks Jongin, watching him finally land a proper kick on Zitao. 

“Yeah. But it was completely Taozi’s idea in the first place to open a school.” Jongin softens up, leaning slightly against Zitao.

“And Nini actually got us students.” Zitao counters, smiling at Junmyeon sitting across from them and at Jongin making himself comfortable on his shoulder. “Group effort.”

“What do you do?” Jongin throws over, tone hardening slightly. Zitao can’t deny that he’s also curious, but if it gets tense again, Jongin’s getting another kick for this.

“Small jobs so I can travel around. I’ve done basically everything that would get me paid.” Junmyeon has a small and not entirely happy smile on his face. Oh. There’s definitely a story there.

“You’re not part of a conclave?” Jongin asks, slightly surprised. 

Junmyeon shakes his head. That’s strange. Few wizards or humans who have an affinity for magic are not in conclaves. Hell, Jongin and Zitao are in their own conclave, and they they only dip into the endless potential of magic with what they do.

“I used to be. There were, ah, some politics in play. So I thought it would be better to stay unattached and keep moving, and now here I am.” Junmyeon explains, and Zitao and Jongin nod in understanding. Politics are always cause for trouble.

“We also used to do a bunch of smaller jobs just starting out when we were trying to get funds for our school.” Zitao offers, not wanting the peace that had settled over their group to leave. “I’ll trade a story for one of yours. It’ll pass the time faster.”

Junmyeon blinks twice, and finally smiles more genuinely. “Sure. Um, oh, there was this girl who wanted a wizard to help with some home renovations…”

The rest of the four hour carriage ride to the nearest city passes quickly over laughter and smiles. Jongin finally fully relaxes around Junmyeon, seeming to no longer be on the lookout for a threat that will not come from the man. So by the time they finally stop at the edge of Hopp City, Jongin doesn’t press close as Zitao steps out of the space, gently stretching his legs.

“Do you want to get some food first or keep going?” Junmyeon asks, peering down the hill at the city below, still lit up by the smoldering orange of the setting sun. 

“Food. If you don’t feed him, he’ll get cranky.” Jongin teases, jumping away at the sweep of Zitao’s legs trying to knock him down. 

“Like you aren’t just as bad.” Zitao huffs, pulling his light bag out of the carriage and tossing it over his shoulder. “Don’t pick anything weird, I’m actually hungry.”

“When are you not?” 

Zitao chooses not to dignify that with a response as he walks towards the front of the carriage, even if he knows that jerk has a smirk on his face. Instead, he focuses on the little spirit cooing at the horses, pulling carrots and pieces of vegetables out of their satchel bag to feed to them.

“Thanks for driving us here, Tingting.” Zitao calls, purposefully scuffing his feet to make as much noise as possible while approaching. The last time he accidentally started Tingting while they were with the horses, he had to pay the property damage and reparation costs out of pocket.

“No problem Mr. Huang. You know that I was coming here anyways, and this just means that on the way back I can bring some stuff that’s too delicate for the wagon.” Tingting glows slightly in a way that indicates they’re happy, which the horses blink at, barely surprised anymore by the sudden flash..

“So you’re going to go pick up more supplies before heading back?” Zitao asks, taking the offered carrot from Tingting to feed the grey horse in front of him.

“Yeah. I’m going straight to Mrs. Nam for our usual, and pick up some other stuff. Are you and Mr. Kim really leaving now?” Tingting looks at him, a slightly more toned down glow as the horses finish the last of the carrots. 

“Yes. Don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine.” Zitao smiles, dusting the last of the carrots off his hands. “Taemin can handle everything with the school, but if you want, worry about him instead.”

Tingting rolls their eyes, but glows happier anyways. “Can I have a hug?”

Zitao nods, opening his arms to embrace the little spirit. Hugging Tingting is always interesting because it feels just like hugging a little ball of light, not quite warm but not quite cold either.

~~~

“Safe travels!” Tingting calls to them, now seated on the driver’s seat of the carriage, reins in hand and ready to go down the other road to Mrs. Nam’s farm. 

Jongin and Zitao wave back happily, and Tingting glows before snapping the reins, setting the horses off in a gallop down the path to Nam Jihyun’s farm. When the carriage is nothing more than a flash of red in the distance, Zitao drops his arm, ready to turn towards the road to their new adventure. To his surprise, Junmyeon still stares after the carriage, arm slightly raised as if he had also been waving goodbye.

“Alright, did you two figure out what we should eat?” Zitao asks, throwing an arm around both of them, steering them to the town at the bottom of the hill. Junmyeon stiffens up at the sudden skin contact, but soon relaxes. He’s going to have to get used to it anyways if he wants to keep hanging around Zitao and Jongin, seeing as how they’re both quite touchy.

“I’m fine with whatever you two want.” Junmyeon concedes, giving up the choice to Jongin.

“I want sticky rice cake chili.” Jongin pouts, throwing an arm over Zitao’s shoulder as well as they start moving down the paved road to Hopp City. Zitao rolls his eyes at the statement, because of course he does. Unfortunately, no restaurant in town actually makes it up to Jongin’s standards, and Zitao knows, because they’ve eaten all the sticky rice cake chilis in town.

“You say that no one actually makes it properly,” Zitao says, “and I don’t want to hear you complaining all through dinner again when I’m trying to eat.”

Jongin kicks Zitao’s shin. “I don’t complain about dinner, you complain about dinner. Besides, it just doesn’t quite taste right. They’re not using the same spices.”

“I’ve heard that the fishball stew around here is pretty famous. Isn’t it a regional dish?” Junmyeon points out, cutting off Zitao before he can tell Jongin that there’s literally no difference between the sticky rice cake made in these restaurants than anywhere else in the world. There’s a pretty good point to be made there, and Zitao turns to Jongin, asking for his input.

“I haven’t had fishball stew in a while. Want some?” 

Jongin frowns slightly as he thinks, probably deciding if he really wants the stew or if he’ll just fall back on his safety food of fried chicken. Then he shrugs, accepting the idea. “Sure. Let’s get some.”

~~~

Zitao flops onto the soft blankets of the bed, making a small oomph as he squishes his face into the pillow of the softest bed the inn would provide. There’s nothing better than a nice meal and a soft bed afterwards, a luxury and happiness not as obvious as one may think. 

He’s alone in the room, Junmyeon currently washing up for bed and Jongin doing something, and it’s almost confusing how the waves of comfort and warmth washing over him coax him to sleep, to rest, to crawl out of his outer layer of clothes and into the covers. 

“Taozi?” There’s a dip in the bed next to Zitao’s limp body, a weight plopping itself down onto the mattress as well. Zitao spares the barest of strength to tilt his head to the side to confirm that it is indeed Jongin next to him and not some other ill-willed person sneaking in without making a sound, blinking lazily at the way Jongin stares.

“Yeah?” Even Zitao’s voice seems to drip heavy with sleep, a desire to rest weighing down the rest of his words, even if he doesn't feel much like falling into dreams immediately. “Homesick?”

Jongin shakes his head, and clears his expression to look less like someone who could potentially be homesick. “It’s intriguing.”

Zitao nods, understanding exactly what Jongin wants to express. It’s a slightly mounting pressure of a mashup of anticipation and excitement, barely tempered down at the edge of something that might be fear, fear of the unknown, fear now that there is something that may be lost. It blooms and curls out from the grip on Zitao’s heart, pumped out like the blood streaming through his arteries, the thrill of change and an adventure seizing him along with the weariness of what is definitely going to be a lot of travel entwining together. He wants nothing more than to go, yet a traitorous part of him deep within whispers that maybe they should instead stay. They’ve gotten comfortable in their school, and Zitao can’t tell if it’s a bad thing or not.

“You don’t trust him.” Zitao states, softening his tone so that it could be taken as a more aggressive question.

“You do.” Jongin’s tone is just as ambiguous, and it pretty much sums up just about what Zitao feels anyways.

“It’s stupid not to trust him,” Zitao starts.

“But it’s also stupid to.” Jongin finishes. There’s good points all around, to be fair, because Junmyeon seems to be a very ambiguous person.

Instead of trying to find a satisfactory answer, Zitao rolls slightly closer to Jongin and opens his arms slightly wider to indicate wanting a hug. Jongin easily obliges, because he also very clearly wants a hug, and Zitao settles in his best friend’s arms, warmer than he was seconds ago. 

The two smaller beds in their three-bed room get pushed together once they both finally gain the mental strength to do so, and there’s no need for more discussion about Junmyeon and the awaiting prophecy. Junmyeon earns himself a few more points for not batting an eye at Jongin and Zitao all cuddled up together in the larger bed they made, and instead blows out the lantern so the two of them don’t have to get out of bed after getting fully comfortable.

Zitao doesn’t try to think too much harder about everything as he listens to the sound of Junmyeon moving around fading, and then to the way that the breathing in the room slowly settles. After all, it could be a long time before he gets to sleep in another nice bed like this again, and so he might as well just enjoy it while he still has it.

~~~

“What do you want to eat?” 

Junmyeon seems startled to be addressed, turning around from where he was pulling on a shirt to look at Zitao. 

“I-uh, don’t usually eat breakfast.” Junmyeon says, quickly finishing up his buttoning due to the surprise of seeing Zitao step into the room.

“You should eat as much as you can while you’re still in places that sell decent food.” Zitao frowns, watching as Junmyeon pulls on a black outer robe that is just as dark as every other part of his outfit, but does do the task of giving him a mysterious air and somehow giving him a few years in age. “Come on, let’s go get breakfast! There’s got to be something good being sold around here.”

“I need to wash my face and brush my teeth.” Junmyeon protests, stepping towards the bathroom.

“I’ll wait.” Zitao smiles, plopping down on Junmyeon’s unmade bed. Junmyeon’s eyes dart over to Jongin still deeply asleep, body twisted around the blankets, and looks as if he would tell Zitao to lower his volume or something so that they don’t wake up Jongin. But instead of doing that, he steps into the bathroom to get ready, and Zitao lets himself fall back against the rumpled sheets.

Curse his weird sleeping schedule of waking up with the sun for a drink of water and to quickly check for intruders or the like for making him awake right now at this current time. Even though he went back to sleep, just the difference of not being in his own bed got to him and here Zitao lies, wide awake and ready for the day at an hour he has not seen in years. Thankfully Junmyeon doesn’t take too long in the bathroom, and comes out before Zitao could successfully convince his brain to let him go back to sleep.

“Okay, let’s go buy something to eat.” Zitao springs up to his feet once Junmyeon walks out of the bathroom, stretching out his spine with a few pops that makes Junmyeon wince slightly.

“What about Jongin?” Junmyeon refers to the man still very much dead to the world, volume very clearly much lower than Zitao. He’s certainly a better person, not wanting to leave a sleeping man alone.

“Don’t worry about him, he’ll still be asleep by the time we get back,” Zitao brushes off, opening the door to their room and waving Junmyeon forth. “It’s horrible trying to wake Nini up in the mornings, and he sleeps til like noon every day. Besides, no one’s going to disturb him sleeping here.” 

Junmyeon throws one last look back at Jongin and shrugs, before he steps out, and Zitao closes the door. 

They step out of the small inn into the morning sun, warm and bright honey as the rays cast around everything in the nearby vicinity with a gentleness that has yet to clear. The lightest fog rises up from the water around, lowering the temperature oh so slightly and casting an almost sharp chill into the air. 

“So what kinds of things do you like to eat?” Zitao asks, slightly shivering. He thinks that if he really focuses, he could make out his breath, and once again curses rising so early. He also curses the fact that it seems like he still hasn’t gotten used to this city despite deciding to live in the area, a stupid decision, really.

Junmyeon, on the other hand, does not look even a bit worse for wear, probably used to the chill or something. This is exactly what Zitao finds completely unfair, even as he scans the area in search, maybe of ill-willed people or food. “I don’t really have a preference. What’s good to eat around here?”

Zitao sees the opening for what it is and seizes it, grabbing ahold of the chance and Junmyeon’s wrist to make sure he doesn’t lose him once they descend into the breakfast rush. “There are lots of things! Come on, I’ve been craving a lot of different things recently, and it’s going to all taste amazing.”

Junmyeon seems a bit reluctant at first, but after being dragged by Zitao to the fifth food stall in their weird zig-zag bouncing pattern of this street full of food vendors, he accepts that Zitao is not leading him wrong, and happily buys and digs in. After about half an hour, they walk back into the inn’s room, arms laden with more delicious breakfast street foods. Jongin has not made a single twitch since they last left, every eyelash exactly as they left it, but somehow even more twisted up in his blankets as they curl like a light turquoise tornados around select limbs of his.

“Told you, he’s clearly still dead to the world.” Zitao notes, nodding at Jongin’s still body. 

Junmyeon blinks, clearly not used to the teasing yet. It’s fine, they have an entire trip for that to change.

“Are you going to wake him?” Junmyeon asks, looking at the armful of food Zitao has dubiously, as if expecting him to jump onto the bed with all that and make a mess.

“He’ll wake up as soon as he smells the food.” Zitao dismisses, dumping everything down on a table. Sure enough, even as he says it, Jongin begins to stir, rolling over and slightly untangling from the sheets. 

“Awake? We have breakfast.” 

Jongin groans once valiantly, and then he sits up in bed, looking very much like he wished to still be deeply asleep at this moment. Zitao laughs.


End file.
